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Don’t do evil

This is the way of Google, according to Google. I wonder what Google sees as evil.

Today most people use Google on a daily basis, for finding stuff on the internet, check the news, locate places and keep in contact with friends, foes, family and business. The services delivered by Google are great, but nothing in life comes free… So what is the price of Google?

Google has become a mighty empire, it shapes the way we observe the world through our private communications, maps, news and search results. They have huge amounts of data of our use of their services which would be the ultimate wet dream for organisations like the KGB, Stasi or perhaps Homeland security.

But how this huge amount of (personal) data is exactly used and experimented with is held behind closed doors. One can only imagine how much the combined data says about us. Please do not forget we are filling in the blanks through our personal blogs, orkut and our gmail communications. Near complete personal social networks can be compiled, for the whole world to see in some cases.

Information wants to be free. The more the Internet is integrated with our lives this quote by Stewart Brand at the first Hackers‘ Conference in 1984 seems to become more general and valid with the growth of the amount of (personal) data on the internet. To continue the quote here is the context it must be placed in;

On the one hand information wants to be expensive, because it’s so valuable. The right information in the right place just changes your life. On the other hand, information wants to be free, because the cost of getting it out is getting lower and lower all the time. So you have these two fighting against each other.^[1]

How much is the information of our personal life worth? This value is in my humble opinion highly underestimated. Ofcourse I do not ‘blog’ everything that happens in my life but I do look for answers on the Internet for problems and tasks. Combining this search information with the stuff I do write about in public [blog/orkut] or in private [(g)mail] on my blog/linkedin/orkut/etc. a rather very complete picture can be drawn about me.

This is only a theoretical approach to the potential Google appears to have. So what is evil about creating this potential? The answer is: absolutely nothing. How the information is used is potentially harmful/evil. What’s Googles business model? Selling such data, compiled in a way for form a near-complete picture of our private lives to parties interested in high-res demographics? Google would be the obvious partner for companies and maybe countries after that kind of information.

Now Google has gone even further, beyond your search queries, Google groups, the Orkut network and Gmail. They have added Google Calendar and Documents to the list too. This data was missing in your personal Google-file. If you use these services your file is more complete than ever.It seems obvious that Google wants your data, not life, all of it. Having your data is not a crime, not even sharing your data with the elected Government body perhaps?

In the land of the blind one eye is king. This goes doubly so for the world of data, any kind. If you know how to effectively mine that data you are King. And Google is this the King of the huge data-pool called Internet.

Google knows a lot, if not all, it knows what your interests and preferences are and what you don’t like. It shapes our views with the results of our search queries. In the future it will more and more shape our opinion of the world. And such power is potentially harmful because our opinion is what we use to elect our leaders in a democracy who eventually shape the world.

Now this lil piece is a view of Google, but don’t forget Microsoft’s live.com / MSN / Linkedin / Hyves and the like. The have the same potential, and where is potential there is a potential to do damage.